BRAN the son of Llyr Llediaith, and sovereign of Britain, derives, according to the Welsh authorities, his title of Bendigeid, or the Blessed, from the circumstance of his having introduced Christianity into this Island. They tell us that he was the father of the celebrated Caradawc (Caractacus), whose captivity he is said to have shared ; and proceed to state that having embraced the Christian faith, during his seven years' detention in Rome, he returned to his native country, and caused the Gospel to be preached there.* The following Triad recites these events.

"The three blissful Rulers of the Island of Britain, Bran the Blessed, the son of Llyr Llediaith, who first brought the faith of Christ to the nation of the Cymry from Rome, where he was seven years a hostage for his son Caradawc, whom the Romans made prisoner through the craft, and deceit, and treachery of Aregwedd Fôeddawg [usually supposed to be Cartismandua]. The second was Lleurig ab Coel ab Cyllyn Sant, who was called Lleufer Mawr, [the great Light], and built the ancient church at Llandaff, which

* For an account of Bendigeid Vran, see Professor Rees's Welsh Saints P. 77.

was the first in Britain, and who gave the privileges of land, and of kindred, and of social rights, and of society to such as were of the faith of Christ. The third was Cadwaladyr the Blessed, who gave refuge, with his lands, and with all his goods, to the believers who fled from the Saxons without faith, and from the aliens who would have slain them."-Tr. 35.

The benefit which Bran thus conferred upon his country procured for his family the distinction of being accounted one of the three Holy Tribes; the families of Cunedda Wledig and Brychan Brycheiniog were the other two.

All this, however, it may be observed, is much at variance with the particulars of Caradawc's captivity, and of his family, recorded by classical writers.

Bran is ranked with Prydain ab Aedd Mawr, and Dyvnwal Moelmud as one of the three Kings who gave stability to sovereignty by the excellence of their system of government.-Tr. 36.

Various ancient Welsh documents allude to the incidents recorded of Bran in the Mabinogi of Branwen. Thus in the curious poem entitled Kerdd am Veib Llyr ab Brychwel Powys, attributed to Taliesin, are the following lines,—

I was with Bran in Ireland,

I saw when Morddwyd Tyllon was slain.*

And there is a Triad upon the story of his head being buried under the White Tower of London, with the face towards France, intended as a charm against foreign invasion. Arthur, it appears, proudly disinterred the head, preferring to hold the Island by his own strength alone, and this is recorded as one of the fatal disclosures of Britain.

"The three Closures and Disclosures of the Island; First the head of Bendigeid Vran ab Llyr, which Owain the son of Maxen Wledig buried under the White Tower in London, and while it was so placed no invasion could be made upon this Island; the second was the bones of Gwrthevyr the Blessed [Vortimer], which were buried in the chief harbour of the Island, and while they remained there hidden all invasions were ineffectual. The third was the dragons buried by Lludd ab Beli, in the city of Pharaon, in the rocks of Snowdon. And the three closures were made under the blessing of God and his attributes, and evil befel from the time of their disclosure. Gwrtheyrn Gwrtheneu [Vortigern], disclosed the dragons

Myv. Arch. I. p. 66.

to revenge the displeasure of the Cymry against him, and he invited the Saxons in the guise of men of defence to fight against the Gwyddyl Ffychti; and after this he disclosed the bones of Gwrthevyr the Blessed, through love of Ronwen [Rowena], the daughter of the Saxon Hengist. And Arthur disclosed the head of Bendigeid Vran ab Llyr, because he chose not to hold the Island except by his own strength. And after the three disclosures came the chief invasions upon the race of the Cymry."-Tr. 53.

The name of Bran is of frequent occurrence in the poems ddelw, and other bards of the middle ages.

HARLECH.-Page 369.

of Cyn

MOST of the localities which occur in the Tale of Branwen are too well known to need any description; one or two, however, require a slight notice. Of Harlech, it may be remarked that it is also called Twr Bronwen, or Branwen's Tower. The name of Caer Collwyn was also bestowed upon it after Collwyn ab Tangno, chief of one of the fifteen Noble Tribes of North Wales. It possesses the ruins of a fine castle. Harlech stands on the sea coast, on the confines of Ardudwy, one of the six districts of Merionethshire, of which the portion called Dyffryn Ardudwy is a remnant of the Cantrev y Gwaelod, inundated in the time of Gwyddno Garanhir.

Edeyrnion, mentioned a little further on in the story, is also situated in Merionethshire.

Talebolion is a Commot in Anglesey.

Aberffraw, likewise in Anglesey, was the residence of the princes of Gwynedd from the time of Roderick the Great, in 843, to that of the last Llywelyn, in 1282.

EUROSSWYDD.-Page 369.

EUROSSWYDD is beyond doubt the Roman general Ostorius, the captor of Llyr Llediaith, and his family, including Bran and Caradawc (Caractacus).

He is mentioned as such in Triad L, already quoted.-See p. 192.

BELI THE SON OF MANOGAN.-Page 369.

BELI, surnamed the Great, was king over Britain forty years, and was succeeded in the sovereignty by his sons, Lludd and Caswallawn, better known as Cassivelaunus. In the Armes attributed to Taliesin, Beli is thus addressed,—

"Greatly do I honour thee

Victorious Beli,

Son of Manogan the king.

Do thou preserve the glory

Of the Honey Island* of Beli."

Myv. Arch. I. p. 73.

BRANWEN.-Page 370.

THE beautiful Branwen (or Bronwen, the "white-bosomed," as she is more frequently called), is one of the most popular heroines of Welsh romance. No less celebrated for her woes than for her charms, we find that her eventful story was a favourite theme with the bards and poets of her nation. Numerous instances might be adduced of the allusions to her, which their compositions contain ; suffice it to refer to the words of Davydd ab Gwilym, who, in one of his odes addressed to Morvudd, compares her hue to that of Bronwen, the daughter of Llyr.

The indignities to which Branwen was subjected in Ireland are referred to in one of the Triads (49).

In 1813, a grave containing a funeral urn was discovered on the banks of the river Alaw, in Anglesey, in a spot called Ynys Bronwen. The appearance of the grave, and its remarkable locality, led to the inference that it might indeed be the "Bedd Petrual," the four-sided place of burial, in which, according to the text, her sorrowing companions deposited the remains of the unfortunate heroine of the Mabinogion. The following account of its discovery was communicated, in 1821, to the Cambro-Briton (and printed in that publication, II. p. 71), by Sir R. C. Hoare, on the authority of Richard Fenton, Esq., of Fishguard.

"An Account of the Discovery, in 1813, of an Urn, in which, there is every reason to suppose, the ashes of Bronwen (White Bosom), the daughter of Llyr, and aunt to the great Caractacus, were deposited.

A farmer, living on the banks of the Alaw, a river in the Isle of Anglesea, having occasion for stones, to make some addition to his farm-buildings, and having observed a stone or two peeping through the turf of a circular elevation on a flat not far from the river, was induced to examine it, where, after paring off the turf, he came to a considerable heap of stones, or carnedd, covered with earth, which he

* An ancient name for Britain.

removed with some degree of caution, and got to a cist formed of coarse flags canted and covered over. On removing the lid, he found it contained an urn placed with its mouth downwards, full of ashes and half-calcined fragments of bone. The report of this discovery soon went abroad, and came to the ears of the parson of the parish, and another neighbouring clergyman, both fond of, and conversant in, Welsh antiquities, who were immediately reminded of a passage in one of the early Welsh romances, called the Mabinogion (or juvenile tales), the same that is quoted in Dr. Davies's Latin and Welsh Dictionary, as well as in Richards's, under the word Petrual (square).

'Bedd petrual a wnaed i Fronwen ferch Lyr ar lan Alaw, ac yno y claddwyd hi.'

A square grave was made for Bronwen, the daughter of Llyr, on the banks of the Alaw, and there she was buried.

Happening to be in Anglesea soon after this discovery, I could not resist the temptation of paying a visit to so memorable a spot, though separated from it by a distance of eighteen miles. I found it, in all local respects, exactly as described to me by the clergyman above mentioned, and as characterised by the cited passage from the romance. The tumulus, raised over the venerable deposit, was of considerable circuit, elegantly rounded, but low, about a dozen paces from the river Alaw.* The Urn was preserved entire, with an exception of a small bit out of its lip, was ill-baked, very rude and simple, having no other ornament than little pricked dots, in height from about a foot to fourteen inches, and nearly of the following shape.